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Indiana Turkey Season

jkratz5

Well-Known Member
Well after the 4 days of hunting in Kansas I returned home to chase birds in Indiana. First morning out was an absolute bust on the roost, couldn't believe that one of my best spots literally had no birds sounding off and the closest birds were 2 farms away. I sat it out for 3 hours hoping the birds were just quiet but never heard a peep. At 9:00 I decided to head to a farm that I had only hunted once in the past but I did hammer a bird there and the trail cams the last 3 years have shown more and more birds in the area.

I made the 20 minute drive and the 20 minute walk and was setup by 9:45. Within the first 10 minutes I heard my first Indiana turkey as a hen started yapping a couple hundred yards away. About a half hour later I thought I caught a faint gobble but the wind was blowing pretty good so I wasn't positive. I broke out the Copper Top Ed Jenkins GhostMaker slate call and let out a few loud yelps and then settled back in. About 5 minutes later I heard the familiar sound of wings flapping behind me. I was sitting with my back to about a 100 foot deep gully and peaked to see if a bird had flown across. Nothing. About 10 minutes later my buddy says strutter on the timber edge coming right to us. I peaked to my left and caught the top of a tail fan coming down the edge. The bird had to come around a point to get to our setup so I slid the gun up and waited patiently. As the bird made the turn he saw the dekes and started gobbling his head off. He then went into mean walk mode right to the dekes and gave the the Avian Jake a quick beat down. 45 minutes into the sit and the Beretta ate for the 3rd time this year and my Indiana tag was filled. A nice bird with a 9,5" beard and 1" hooks. This farm has now been hunted a grand total of 2.5hrs and 2 birds of went down on it. It may be my opening morning farm next year.

Two days later, my buddy and I took our two boys out to try and fill his tag. We packed a Double Bull into a location where I had roosted birds the evening before. We had the blind setup 45 minutes or so before legal shooting and as soon as we were settled in we heard our first gobbles. The boys eyes lit up from the gobble that was just 150 yds away or so and then the excitement really set in as 3 different gobblers started sounding off.

At legal light I could tell the birds had hit the ground and one of them sounded like he was getting close, except he sounded like he was skating us to the right. The next time he gobbled he was almost behind us so we quickly pulled up the windows on one side and dropped the back side open and got the boys into a good viewing position. As we all peered to the south waiting for the bird to show his head, I looked back to the north to see 2 strutters coming from the original direction we were setup facing right to the dekes. We again quickly readjusted. The 2 birds did the full show for us, gobbling, spitting, drumming for the next 5 minutes as they closed their way to the dekes. As the first one gave the jake a wing slap, the 3rd gobbler came running full speed from our south to join in the lynching. With the boys in full amazement my buddy got his gun ready and once we knew they weren't getting away we let the birds continue to have their way with the decoys. Finally, after about 10 minutes they looked at us and said "are you gonna shoot one". My buddy dropped the hammer and the Indiana season was over. The boys instantly yelled "let us out of the blind" and they ran over to check out the bird. It was one of the funnest hunts I have been on and one I am sure that none of us will soon forget.

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